More Than a Third of Species Live on 1.4% of Earth’s Land

Scientists who inventoried Earth’s shrinking wilds have reached an astonishing conclusion: More than a third of the planet’s plant and animal species exist exclusively on a scant 1.4% of its land surface. A British-American team led by Norman Myers of Oxford University relied on previous research to tally the numbers of land species that inhabit Earth’s remaining pristine forests, grasslands and other habitats. Fish and insects were excluded.

The team reports in today’s Nature that it identified 25 “hot spots” covering a total of 810,000 square miles. That relatively tiny expanse sustains 44% of Earth’s plant species and 35% of its non-fish vertebrate animal species. Some of the richest hot spots are in Madagascar, Brazil, the tropical Andes, the Caribbean, and Borneo, Sumatra and other islands in Southeast Asia.

--Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II